This is the same concept of a wicking bucket and I’m happy to see you did it with a garden bed as the concept is the same and works beautifully if done correctly. Two hints for success - create furrows in the stone under the landscape fabric to allow soils to settle into the water a bit which increases wicking action of the soil as some of it is settling into water. Also if you want to save money instead of stone use rows of tile pipe (this is slotted plastic septic field pipe) cut to length and ends covered with landscape fabric. It’s lighter and easy to use and MUCH lighter to work with. See Gardening with Leon channel for an intro to this. Glad you created this video.
I was just about to suggest the same channel... one problem I'm seeing with the rock method is there is no air gap for the roots to self-prune, so the chance of rot increases with larger root systems/perennials.
I found this from a different channel ruclips.net/video/Lp9Jdyno9hI/видео.html on Leon’s channel I see self wicking tubs, not raised beds, I’m guessing the concept is the same?
Came back to say I followed your instructions and I have had 3 healthy raised beds in Texas for over a year now. They've been through drought and freeze. Thank you Tammy!
Learn from our mistakes! After seeing the video we converted all our beds. After we were done and patting ourselves on the back for all our hard work, we filled them with water and many of them leaked!!!! I looked online and people recommend checking for leaks prior to covering covering with dirt. We didn't think of that! I think I may have gotten carried away with my staple gun. I recommend checking for leaks before covering with ground cloth and adding dirt. We are going to see how they work this year and if we need to, we will redo them next year. For now the worse we have are beds with great drainage lol.
@@mildredthill2868 We have two small beds that work as designed. After we learned our mistake, we made two more small beds using pond liner and they work great. Pond liner is the way to go. We have not rebuilt all the leaking beds because of the work involved. To build them we put in close to 4 yards of rock along with about the same amount of soil. We went big lol. We use the leaking beds as normal raised planter beds. Since we have filled our garden with beds and it is surrounded with a fence and next to our house we have little room to work. It would take a lot of room to take out all the soil and rock store it and start over. We had to wheel barrel it in so building them was not easy.
I have built several of these sub-irrigation planters. I added an additional 4in pipe with a cap and holes drilled in the pipes under the soil level and put food scrapes in the pipe. I added red wiggler worms 🪱 to the beds and that pipe was how I fed them. Doing this allowed the worms to add castings to my soil inside the beds.
Dale, The build was exactly the same as this version except on the opposite side of the bed I put another 4" pipe with half inch holes drilled around the bottom but would be under the soil. Then I placed a cover over the top of the 4in pipe. It could be a pipe cap or coffee can. I just intended to slow the flies from getting to the food in the pipe. I put food waste into the 4in pipe and cover it again. That fed the worms. The worms crawled the entire space in the bed, had water from the SIP reservoir and the bed served to be my worm farm all at the same time. I used red wigglers. I didn't feed every day because there was a good amount of organic matter in my soil. The video I saw doing a similar system the guy blended the food waste then poured the soupy mess into the four in pipe. It was just an all-in-one system but needs to be a good size for the worms. I used a deep mulch method to cover the soil. Everything else was the same. Since I had a four inch pipe I did lose a little bit of growing space but not too much. Hope that helps. William
@@scottmercier352 I looked at several different SIP like this and others but decided to try and combine elements of several different ones I liked into one system. It was a great system. I wasn't able to see longer term as I has them for a couple years before selling my house and moving.
A couple of pointers. Add the overflow pipe right at the level of the rock or maybe a half an inch under it. If it flora above the rock, there is a good chance the pipe will get filled with dirt and get clogged. Drill small holes all around the pipe. And wrap the pipe with weed stop or some other cloth that will stop the holes from clogging up. To stop the water from leaking past where the pipe comes in, cut the hole bigger and use fittings with a flange on both sides. This will seal the area around where you punch the hole, and stop the water from getting between the plastic and wood. Even with pressure treated lumber, having soaking wet areas over long periods of time, will cause rot and mold issues.
A simple visual method for knowing the water level in the reservoir is to have a 1" pvc pipe set up vertically that reaches near the bottom and use a cork (or multiple corks) on a lightweight stick. Cut the stick so only 1" sticks out when it's dry and mark it with a bright color. As the water level rises or falls, you'll see how much of the stick is exposed.
@@micheletanis9973 The vertical piece of PVC pipe would ideally be in a corner to maintain the vertical position with the bottom opening resting just above the plastic lining (an elbow or T-fitting can help ensure you don't risk breaking the plastic liner). The water in this pipe will maintain the same height as the water in the rest of the bed. A cork with a long straw or bamboo skewer attached will act as a buoy and float freely inside this vertical pipe. The length of the straw/skewer that is visible sticking out of the pipe will tell you the current water level at a glance
3 minutes in and this is one of the most valuable tips I've heard. That plastic liner means I don't have to take out a fourth mortgage to build with cedar! Never even occurred to me. Beyond that, this idea is genius. I'm just lazy enough that I would even automate filling the reservoirs using moisture sensors or a float valve, with an interconnected PVC delivery system.
You know what they say, "Laziness is the mother of invention", or something like that 😋 I was thinking a long the exact same lines. Always automate if it's an option, and it certainly is here. Did yours ever turn out, just curious?
weather will still weather it, but i think the breakdown will be slower. also, if you char the surface wood first, often people use a garden torch, it creates a nice barrier to water. there's a 'japanese method' that is borrowed for this. also, after brushing the wood, creates a nice look that is almost like a rich stain. very nice. i think it holds up better than cedar also.
To add to your idea, overflow pipe connects to water reservoir (like rain water catcher) outside raised bed. Add a solar pump to reservoir and pump water into the bed.
Huge video for a guy just starting out. Youll hear old timers tell you "Never put plastic in your raised beds" "Never add stone" but i dont think they look at it as intricately as yall have. Great idea using the sewer pipe as a way to water the deep roots if your system runs dry. A common complaint from them old timers is "Wheres the water going to go if you put all that rock in there to take up space" But they never thought to add a simple overflow pipe. Wow. I really love your set up and im going to try it for my outdoor bed im building this year for tomatoes and peppers!
Great idea, just as an added thought you could attach flexible hosing to connect all of the beds together as one unit. Place the garden hose into the first bed and the water will flow from one bed to the next filling all of the beds in one hit. This would work even if your garden were not level as the water will flow downhill naturally. You could even set up a moisture control unit to activate the water tap automatically.
i've done this using cut branches, instead of river rock. And only 8"s of wood. I didn't use a barrier and I constantly pumped a little water from a small pond. The water returning from the wicking bed was crystal clean. The veg grew fantastic!
@@nuclearchick27 only if you buy by the bag but mulch places are cheaper you just pay a delivery fee or use a truck or trailer and pick it up by the ton
@@sweetsrt rock doesn't absorb water or other nutients, wood is natural. I don't see what point I have missed. I have grown in rock with aquaponics which worked well. There is a place and time for everything.
@rjaquaponics9266 what you missed was the rock is being used to hold the water and keep space for a long period of time. You use wood in place of rock the wood would deteriorate. That Is the Point You Missed.
If you're not worried about plastic in your food production spaces, the best reservoir is something that creates a fully open void like inverted plastic milk crates, with geotextile fabric draped over the top. Make sure the fabric dips down to the bottom of the bed between each void and the next so you have enough continuous soil for the water to wick up through and your plants will be able to use the water to the last drop. The big voids will mean you have a huge amount of water sitting there - and the geotextile will keep the soil out of your voids for decades after these river pebbles have been dug out and replaced.
This year I made many 'wicking tubs' using 15 gal planters and large storage bins but I used the 4" drain pipe in the bottom ( and even used 2 ltr soda bottles with holes drilled in them then covered with weed frabric and soil. Much less expensive and work than putting in stone! SO far working great! Tomatoes, peppers, squash other plants in them are doing great! I am in central Tx and we are having an excessive heat wave so I am so glad I did it this year! I do have drip also and ran a drip tube down into the watering pipe but my garden is doing so much better this year than it did last year when it was not as hot and I don't have to run the irrigation as often so I can conserve water.
@@Maracz47 Here is the channel I learned how to make them. They used PVC pipe but I used 2 ltr pop bottles in the bottom. The things I planted did do better this year than last but still struggled in the excessive heat we had this year. I even ran a drip line in the top and down the tube so I never had to fill it with a hose. Like she said in the 2nd video it depends on where your tubs are- mine are in total sun. I think next year I am going to move them to less sunny area. ruclips.net/channel/UCMAh7eJhRcIAyxm1wyw43Twsearch?query=wicking%20tubs
The physical properties of the bed's design make it a solar-box that aids the "wicking effect" Because water is comprised of 2 gasses, the natural "leaching" into the upper layer is helped by the fabric "re-netting" the water molecules together, while still allowing the oxidation of minerals and continued composting action... A wonderful experiment is to measure how many gallons it takes to fill the reservoir, that way you can calculate for rain-catch containers for home & shed gutters
I've seen people use the corrugated pipe as filler instead of rock. Put a coil in the bottom with the filler pipe up the side and still cover with landscape cloth, then cover with sand to above the level of the overflow. You might need to put a little gravel around the overflow pipe to keep the sand from leaking out, but that seems to be all the gravel that would be needed. The sand will act as a wick and probably does a better job than gravel. I couldn't recall if they used another layer of landscape cloth between the sand and the soil, but it seems like a good idea. I just went a found a video where instead of landscape cloth on top of the sand, they used a mulch. Either would probably work fine.
The rock is actually better than sand or pipe. It is robust and stands up to the weight of the garden without collapsing over time like many types of pipe do. Sand holds more water, but the rock does a better job of wicking the water up due to surface tension, adhesive and cohesive properties of water. I’ve tried many different fills for the reservoir and we now use a fine layer of sand in the bottom to protect the liner and then 20mm drainage gravel as the main fill, cover with shade cloth or other landscape fabric of your choosing and then growing medium to suit your needs. A thick layer of mulch on top will ensure that the water doesn’t evaporate from the top of the bed keeping the soil at optimum levels of moisture.
@@acrom17 Thanks for that information. I haven't set up any wicking beds myself, but plan to in the near future and this will be very useful knowledge indeed. Out of curiosity, how deep do you go with the gravel?
According to the Back to Eden Gardening videos mulch getting into the growing medium will draw out the nitrogen to break down the mulch. Best to use mulch on top though, it slows evaporation and protects the soil from extreme temps. And if you can use mulch fresh from a tree trimmer, (or something that still has leaves, etc.), he said it is even better.
I agree with you, with using 4” corrugated pipe and then I would fill in around the pipe and bury it with about 2 inches of rock to bring the reservoir depth to about 6”, I think there would be more water this way than with 12” of rock, because that rock is going to displace a lot of water
Corrugated drain tile. Thanks for the ideas ladies I have a winter project now. If I decide to build this one thing different I would do is offset the overflow drain on the Southside of the bed so I do not have water runoff directly on the lumber creating a stain.
I couldn't be happier that I saw this video. I have been wanting to built a planter box in my yard so I can grow foods and this was an eye opener on the right way to do it. It's more involved from the start, but it really seems like the only way you should be doing it! Thank you so much. I subscribed and saved your video!
Jill, that was excellent! Excellent subject matter, excellent interviewing skills! You're such a natural! I greatly appreciate this information. I just gotta put this type bed to use! Genius! Thank you Jill and also thank you Green Thumb Nursery in Arkansas!
This had an incredible wealth of knowledge, im planning on building my mom a raised bed in our sideyard. I was just going to do what i see my neighborhoods do and make a box, throw some junk and topsoil in and call it a day. NOT ANYMORE! my mother deserves the very best and this is it!!! Also that fence idea for vine plants is genius, im also going to impliment a spot just for that. She loves her tomatos!
Well I think you could use a loop system of a fish pool back garden wherein the feed each other and the water 💧 self cleans and a great environment and amazing natural food God gave us for our bodies.
Thank you so very much for explaining everything so thoroughly, I have watched other videos and they must think that everyone just knows how, what when and why this works. I am just starting out and am trying to LEARN how to do things and you both have broke things down wonderfully for me!! I am going to subscribe just for the fact that you both are great teachers. This is my first video so I am praying the others are just as well informative. God bless you for wanting to help and teach us and THANK YOU again!!😊
Neat. There can also be done on a small scale with 5 gallon buckets and other plastic totes. They're sometimes called "earth boxes" too. thanks for the vids. cheers.
I would consider using a couple columns of peat moss or coco coir that go down into the rocks (cut holes in the fabric, clear out the rocks down to the bottom, lay down an overlapping layer of landscaping fabric over the hole and fill with peat or coco coir and then dirt on top. This can create a wicking column down to the bottom of the rocks.
This is called a Sub-Irrigation Planter, or SIP. I have three of them in my garden. I use the perforated drainage pipe with a sock over it to keep it from getting clogged along with lava rock to make my reservoir. I also make sure that some of the irrigation tubing is higher than my drain tunes. This ensures that an air pocket always remains in the system, which also prevents root rot.
We have several poly cattle watering troughs. They have a drain hole that makes a great water depth limiter. I install a ring of 8” perforated PVC pipe coved with synthetic cloth against the outer wall and then I put a ring of 4” PVC perforated pipe inside it also covered with cloth. I have a direct fill line connected to the 8” pipe and drip irrigation on the surface. I adjust the sprinkler to over flow just a tiny bit. Don’t have to water at all, because here in California we get no rain from May through September.
Thankyou so much, as I'm disabled and have issues bending this is a brilliant idea and you ladies kindly showed it in simple easy to do terms, you are both great xo
This is genius, I'm disappointed I've already got a different system in place with my current garden beds, but I'm definitely saving this video for when I move and have to build more garden beds!
This was so perfectly and clearly explained. It was terrific thank you ladies. Im a 62 year old woman with her first ever garden. And I want to do this-like so many injured people, I CANNOT be bending my knees down to garden. Not an option. This is the best are one I’ve seen. I will build only one bed and then if it rakes well i can make more. Thanks very much
I'd considered this when I made my raised beds. It just seems more cost effective to put in drip irrigation on a timer. I might still try this in a smaller bed.
These wicking beds are common amongst home gardeners in Australia with raised beds. Our summers (especially in the southern mainland states) are long and hot. 40°C/104°F are common at the hottest part of summer. Evaporation is a problem, even with mulch, so wicking beds such as these are a good solution as it minimises evaporation and rot from irrigation.
@@erin.murphy That answers my question about using these here in Southern Utah where we have 110 degrees in the summer. I was concerned about the water getting too hot in the reservoir, but it sounds like it works well for you down under, and the water doesn't wick up the soil so far as to evaporate off the top?
JSclar - It is amazing the difference just between solar exposure and shade. 30 degrees for the air. You could also dig out the soil a bit before placing the liner and use the benefits of geothermal moderation. You just need the overflow pipe to be above grade.
@@erin.murphy The whole purpose of drip irrigation is you give the plant the water it requires and not much more. The plant should be taking up that water before it even evaporates. If the climate is hot to the point that evaporation is quick then you simply bury a drip hose a few inches into the soil. Being honest with you, if your water is evaporating so quickly that mulch and buried drip line isn't supplying your plants with adequate water I'd probably be more worried about my physical being and my possessions than I would be my plants. Even at 40c evaporation isn't that drastic, even more so if the humidity is high. Which I've been lead to believe that Australian summers are hot and humid.
Just what I've been looking for. I was searching for a watering system so I don't have to spend so much time watering. So time consuming. I'm about to build a couple of new raised beds so this will be ideal. Great job will be doing this. Instead of river rock I will use sand. I watched another video that compared sand and gravel. Sand evaporated faster in this mini trial. Great job ladies enjoyed your presentation. Very nicely explained and easy to follow. Enjoyed how each step was included. From here over the pond in Essex England
Thanks to 'Gardening with Leon' from Oklahoma for his brilliant teaching for the last 40 years! This is his brain child and we have all been blessed by it!
Thanks for the water collection idea. 8: 25, I would make the overflow pipe extend out a foot, and set a collection container under the end, to later add that water back into the raised bed. We never know when it's going to rain again. And I'd add caulking around the overflow pipe on the inside of the wooden wall. Thanks again for the plan.
I am at 8,000 ft in the mountains of Colorado. We are in a protracted drought. Also I could have a frost almost any night of the year up here. Lots of sunshine, I have ponds and a well, so plenty of water. But with the beds built this way I could so easily cover them with a big sheet of plastic if we were going to have a freak cold night in July or an early frost. Also I think bird netting would keep the deer and chipmunks from decimating my garden as they have done in past years. My house plants are all done with the Gardening with Leon method, and it works beautifully. I think I might use the sewer pipe and landscape fabric in the reservoir instead of the gravel. I'm 73 and shoveling gravel doesn't sound like fun. Thank you so much! This is a great idea and I'm using it this year.
We are also in CO but down near the front range. It’s our third year attempting gardening here. Still so much to learn with extreme temp fluctuations and we get some crazy wind drying stuff out. Looks like I might empty our raised beds to try implement this! We were driving ourselves crazing trying to keep plants from dying in the summer heat.
You might want to think of using tulle fabric instead of bird netting. Nothing, including bugs/pests will get through it and birds won't die getting caught in it. It's really great and it can also be used as a light shade cloth, even though it's not a cloth. Robbie and Gary - a RUclips channel, she talks about all the things she uses it for in the garden. I love it.
This is brilliant! Thank you so much. It's exactly what I have been looking for at exactly the right time. I am in the process right now of making raised beds and have been racking my brains trying to work out a watering system as I have no access to water in the garden. So I have the eternal problem of having to use a watering can, not nearly enough. So everything suffers. I consistently underwater, then drown everything by overwatering. It's very frustrating. I am so glad you have all taken the time to share this. Mx
This is spectacular. I live in Southern Nevada (very arid desert). Anytime I've grown food olin pots I ONLY do it in self watering pots.....only way your plans will survive out here. Actually need to fill the reservoir 2x in the summer, sometimes 3x depending on the plant. I've always wanted to translate my self watering pot to a raised garden bed. This is a super helpful way to do it, although I would tweak this to have more water....like space out the rocks with bottom capped upright tubes with wicking rope dipped into them. We simply would need more standing water out here.
I'd suggest finding a way to work a float valve into the system, in that climate. We use them to keep cattle water troughs full, but I'm sure you could use one to keep the water up to your garden too.
Excellent presentation, thank you. I notice that house on the property which could have guttering connected to rain barrels to avoid using chlorinated water as well as saving on expenses.
An idea I thought of; connect the pipes together to allow for all beds to be at an equal level. This also means you only need one sewer pipe and one drain. It may cause a possible trip hazard which can be solved by running the pipe down, underground and then back up.
I use this concept in all of my humidity loving reptile enclosures, but we use leca in the bottom rather than river stone :) Awesome to show it on a very large scale
This was one of the best and most informative videos as far as raised beds go.I will definitely will be implementing this in my garden journey.Im so excited ro have come across this video.
Another way is to run a *Larry Halls Gutter Garden* down the entire middle of a raised garden. You then drill holes at 1 ft increments on each side of the gutter and glue in sections of hollow braided cotton rope to go crosswise or really anywhere as that is the wicking medium which is buried in the garden. Larry Halls garden system keeps the gutter full of water at all times using a float valve supplied by either a rain barrel or pressurized water. What's really neat is you can place containers of soil with a net pot in the bottom into the gutter which is buried level to the ground there by irrigating both the containers and the entire garden through wicking action.
A very interesting and informative concept I was watching very carefully but I did not see how he covered the pipe though, but the rest I got Thank you very much for this video I will be trying it
Hey there! Glad I found you guys! This is basically what I have done without the pipe and plastic. I put lava rock for drainage in lots of beds and it sure does take this river valley heat with less work! Imagine my surprise when I heard you guys are in Russellville! I'll have to come see you all the next time I head up to Cental for more bees!
Wicking beds were invented by Colin Austin in Australia. It’s worth checking out all the different ways you can set them up. There’s a solution for everyone.. I’ve been using them for over a decade. All the hard work is in the setting up - there’s basically nothing else to do but plant and harvest at your leisure. They are highly productive and the return on investment begins almost immediately.
Excellent video! This is amazing! I’ll try this in the spring. It would be great to see how the beds are built from the beginning too and the types of wood. Thank you!
really outside the box thinking, you see the same principle in smaller flower containers. really cool, thanks for sharing. i will watch this again and again until I get it done in my garden area, pretty cool
I am about to re-work my raised bed from last year, that I did not make deep enough. It worked, but was not as effective as it could have been. Last year, I also made several wicking tubs from storage tubs that worked great. However, I did not make my raised bed with a water reservoir. I plan to make another raised bed and was thinking of making it with a water reservoir so finding your video came along at just the right time. I have ordered my plastic and sewer tubing from Lowe’s and will pick it up today. Now I am ready to re-build my older bed and add another one. Thanks for your detailed video! It will be so helpful! Now if the weather would just warm up enough to get it constructed!😊
How thick is your plastic, size & cost of your sewer tubing? We have newly made garden boxes & when we figured the cost of the sewer tubing it was going to be very expensive for three garden boxes but I really want wicking garden beds.
I purchased my sewer tubing and plastic from Lowes. The 4”x10’ perforated sewer pipe: $15.98. The plastics was 10’x100’ 6mil construction film (Professinal 6+mil) was $84.98. This film was more than I needed for my two beds, but I figure I can use it for other things too. I only used one tube per 4’x4’ bed and filled in some of the space with other items like small plastic crates or baskets before adding the river rock.
These raised beds are really slick! Conceptually this is a scaled up version of commercial "Grow Boxes" which I have used and with excellent results. The reservoir watering system has addressed the biggest issue I had with the Grow Boxes which was keeping up with the watering during hot weather which required watering once / day. My only thought for improvement with the system is if using multiple units is to tie the drainpipes together so filling one on the end of have the water cascade to the next one automatically which would also allow incorporating an automatic water system economically,
This is a great!This is a 6 star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I love her teaching. It would be interesting to know if you could put a house water filtering system on to the hose that you use to fill your raised bed during the summer to remove chlorine and other harmful chemicals from the city water supply. Also if you could attached a hose to the drainage pipe to collect runoff water into a rain barrel for later use.
Thanks for raised bed garden ideas which I plan to do next year. Also, your in Russellville which is just a bit down the Hwy 64 to Ozark where my dad was raised and we frequently visited many years ago, and I still have a few cousins living there and other towns like Mulberry being a great small town where my aunt lived, and other family in Alma. Thanks again, and keep the informative videos coming!
Lots of good suggestions in the comments!! Also, would suggest installing a Boogie Brew Filter to the garden hose for filling the reservoir when rainwater is small.
Not only does a raised bed offer self-watering it also allows for excellent nitrogen retention throughout if the sides are made to be higher than the soil surface. The best gardens trap nitrogen by keeping it from blowing away in the wind or seeping downhill. I like supplying nitrogen with mulched grass clippings and sprinkling compost tea over it. If you are really daring you can use soiled diapers in a perforated bag if temperatures get really high (but I never have).
After seeing this, when I do a raised bed, i think I might just put a 100 percent cotton sheet on top of the plastic to prevent puncture and then add a foot of of logs and yard debris with an overflow pipe and then add soil directly on top as in hugelculture beds leaving a fill pipe surrounded with rock to keep the dirt out. Somehow that seems as effective and less labor intensive and an opportunity to improve soil with decaying matter available for free?
I came up with the exact same idea last year. There is a problem with it . The water will stagnate if it sits , you need an irrigation system to recycle (aerate ) the flow of water . Im sure a solar powered pump to aerate the water would be of great benefit.. other wise your plants could die faster then you think, Due to lack of oxygenation in the water.
All of these are wonderful ideas. But I would design a recapture system to avoid wasting the water that's coming from the bed. It should be saved and recirculated some way.
Water does not wick up rocks, and if the water is below and not touching the soil, it will not wick up. So you need something like a thick cotton rope to go from the bottom of the rocks up through the landscape fabric into the soil.
Awesome idea! I’m in the process of doing my whole garden this way and I will had some soft rope up through the cloth in several places!!! Glad I read your comment first. Thanks😅
This is my first thought and however i think this through i do not understand the physics behind it. If for example the water level in the bed is only 5 inch high... how does it go up without touching the soil. Can someone explain pls. @@Rogooster
During hot days some of the water will tend to evaporate through the rocks up to the soil. Sand would be better than rocks since the smaller the space between the material the better the capillarity action . I would still use a few old trousers as a wick connecting the water on the bottom up to the bottom of the soil.
I'm at a loss to understand how, when the water level in the rocks gets lower, there is enough capillary action to have the landscape fabric/soil junction get water. Most self watering systems have some sort of wicking that is always down in the water and up in the soil. Also what happens in the winter, when this big "bathtub" freezes inside the plastic lined boards?
My guess is that the river rock was mixed with sand when they dumped it in. A normal wicking barrel would put drain pipe, rock, then sand. The sand would work to the fabric cloth, the cloth would wick to the soil, and the soil to the plants
I was thinking same thing. There wasn’t a “wick” in her system to keep in contact with water regardless of level. Maybe she’s relying on the water to evaporate up into the soil.
What? No where in the video did I hear evaporation in the process of how it works. In fact, at 12:47 is when they began to explain the process, and 13:11 she specifically states leeches up, 13:13 states soaks up. Where in the video does she mention evaporation? If you can’t support your claim then you may have heard it in your mind, but not in this video. My brain is old and I may have missed it, so please…… when?
I’m curious how this stands up over the winter with a hard freeze. Wouldn’t the ice expand and cause damage to the bottom of the bed or heave the upper layer? I’m wondering if you’d need to pump/drain the water after harvest and before it starts freezing.
This was awesome! Thank you both for the education. I live in the area and have never been to this nursery. I will definitely be checking it out and would love to do some classes if offered!
I get how the water is wicking once it hits the fabric between the rocks and the dirt. But how is it going up in the rocks if the reservoir is only half-full? I don't get it.
2 Fantastic ladies doing a great job of teaching. The retired teacher is still teaching and pretty good I would say. God bless yall and your families 👪 🙏 ❤️ ✝️
This technique is very good for green leaf vegetables. May not be good for other vegetables like Tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, Okra, etc. Continued availability of water reduces flowers and increases leaves.
There are plenty of people that would disagree with you. An abundance of leaves and lack of flowers/fruit is probably more linked to high nitrogen and low p-k. If you want more fruit, use a high p-k fertilizer once the plant is established.
Wicking beds only last about 2 years before you need to tip everything out and start again . They were designed as a emergency garden beds not long term . Certain minerals build up and you going to have to pull everything out and start again .
Half true. Growing anything will deplete some components of the soil, which will need to be replaced to grow more of the same thing. There are also ways of replacing the nutrients in the soil without pulling everything out and starting over.
This is the same concept of a wicking bucket and I’m happy to see you did it with a garden bed as the concept is the same and works beautifully if done correctly. Two hints for success - create furrows in the stone under the landscape fabric to allow soils to settle into the water a bit which increases wicking action of the soil as some of it is settling into water. Also if you want to save money instead of stone use rows of tile pipe (this is slotted plastic septic field pipe) cut to length and ends covered with landscape fabric. It’s lighter and easy to use and MUCH lighter to work with. See Gardening with Leon channel for an intro to this. Glad you created this video.
Thanks for the tips! I'll keep that in mind when I do this in my own garden next year!
I was just about to suggest the same channel... one problem I'm seeing with the rock method is there is no air gap for the roots to self-prune, so the chance of rot increases with larger root systems/perennials.
Great review Chris.
Rows of tile pipe? Can you provide link to that system / setup for a raised bed? Sounds great
I found this from a different channel ruclips.net/video/Lp9Jdyno9hI/видео.html on Leon’s channel I see self wicking tubs, not raised beds, I’m guessing the concept is the same?
She runs a nursery like a teacher. That is awesome.
I know, right?
I thought the very same thing, so cool!
Came back to say I followed your instructions and I have had 3 healthy raised beds in Texas for over a year now. They've been through drought and freeze. Thank you Tammy!
Learn from our mistakes! After seeing the video we converted all our beds. After we were done and patting ourselves on the back for all our hard work, we filled them with water and many of them leaked!!!! I looked online and people recommend checking for leaks prior to covering covering with dirt. We didn't think of that! I think I may have gotten carried away with my staple gun. I recommend checking for leaks before covering with ground cloth and adding dirt. We are going to see how they work this year and if we need to, we will redo them next year. For now the worse we have are beds with great drainage lol.
Yeah I suspect mine is leaking too 😅
Live and learn. At least you were kind enough to share.
How did it go, now that a year has passed?
@@mildredthill2868 We have two small beds that work as designed. After we learned our mistake, we made two more small beds using pond liner and they work great. Pond liner is the way to go. We have not rebuilt all the leaking beds because of the work involved. To build them we put in close to 4 yards of rock along with about the same amount of soil. We went big lol. We use the leaking beds as normal raised planter beds. Since we have filled our garden with beds and it is surrounded with a fence and next to our house we have little room to work. It would take a lot of room to take out all the soil and rock store it and start over. We had to wheel barrel it in so building them was not easy.
I have built several of these sub-irrigation planters. I added an additional 4in pipe with a cap and holes drilled in the pipes under the soil level and put food scrapes in the pipe. I added red wiggler worms 🪱 to the beds and that pipe was how I fed them. Doing this allowed the worms to add castings to my soil inside the beds.
Dale, The build was exactly the same as this version except on the opposite side of the bed I put another 4" pipe with half inch holes drilled around the bottom but would be under the soil. Then I placed a cover over the top of the 4in pipe. It could be a pipe cap or coffee can. I just intended to slow the flies from getting to the food in the pipe.
I put food waste into the 4in pipe and cover it again. That fed the worms. The worms crawled the entire space in the bed, had water from the SIP reservoir and the bed served to be my worm farm all at the same time. I used red wigglers. I didn't feed every day because there was a good amount of organic matter in my soil.
The video I saw doing a similar system the guy blended the food waste then poured the soupy mess into the four in pipe.
It was just an all-in-one system but needs to be a good size for the worms.
I used a deep mulch method to cover the soil.
Everything else was the same. Since I had a four inch pipe I did lose a little bit of growing space but not too much.
Hope that helps.
William
Now that is a good idea. Thanks
@@scottmercier352 I looked at several different SIP like this and others but decided to try and combine elements of several different ones I liked into one system. It was a great system. I wasn't able to see longer term as I has them for a couple years before selling my house and moving.
How far down into the soil did you place the 4” feeding pipe? All the way to the gravel?
@@tressastanton1300 Yes, all the way to the gravel, but I didn't cut any holes so the pipe was not through the weed cloth into the rock.
A couple of pointers. Add the overflow pipe right at the level of the rock or maybe a half an inch under it. If it flora above the rock, there is a good chance the pipe will get filled with dirt and get clogged. Drill small holes all around the pipe. And wrap the pipe with weed stop or some other cloth that will stop the holes from clogging up. To stop the water from leaking past where the pipe comes in, cut the hole bigger and use fittings with a flange on both sides. This will seal the area around where you punch the hole, and stop the water from getting between the plastic and wood. Even with pressure treated lumber, having soaking wet areas over long periods of time, will cause rot and mold issues.
A simple visual method for knowing the water level in the reservoir is to have a 1" pvc pipe set up vertically that reaches near the bottom and use a cork (or multiple corks) on a lightweight stick. Cut the stick so only 1" sticks out when it's dry and mark it with a bright color. As the water level rises or falls, you'll see how much of the stick is exposed.
I didn’t understand, donovanleeds, and this seems like a great idea. Please explain your idea better to me if possible
I got it. But use the 4” septic pipe.
@@micheletanis9973 The vertical piece of PVC pipe would ideally be in a corner to maintain the vertical position with the bottom opening resting just above the plastic lining (an elbow or T-fitting can help ensure you don't risk breaking the plastic liner). The water in this pipe will maintain the same height as the water in the rest of the bed. A cork with a long straw or bamboo skewer attached will act as a buoy and float freely inside this vertical pipe. The length of the straw/skewer that is visible sticking out of the pipe will tell you the current water level at a glance
Glue a little material cut in shape of a long triangle as a flag on the top of the stick. 😅
3 minutes in and this is one of the most valuable tips I've heard. That plastic liner means I don't have to take out a fourth mortgage to build with cedar! Never even occurred to me.
Beyond that, this idea is genius. I'm just lazy enough that I would even automate filling the reservoirs using moisture sensors or a float valve, with an interconnected PVC delivery system.
You know what they say, "Laziness is the mother of invention", or something like that 😋
I was thinking a long the exact same lines. Always automate if it's an option, and it certainly is here. Did yours ever turn out, just curious?
weather will still weather it, but i think the breakdown will be slower. also, if you char the surface wood first, often people use a garden torch, it creates a nice barrier to water. there's a 'japanese method' that is borrowed for this. also, after brushing the wood, creates a nice look that is almost like a rich stain. very nice. i think it holds up better than cedar also.
@@lurklingX Yakisugi or shou sugi ban is an ancient Japanese technique consists of charring cedar boards. Great thought!
I thought of using one of those universal toilet floats and a 2"pvc to the level needed... hook that to rainwater collection and good to go..
To add to your idea, overflow pipe connects to water reservoir (like rain water catcher) outside raised bed. Add a solar pump to reservoir and pump water into the bed.
Teacher here- WISH I could retire TODAY and open my own garden center! You give me hope;)
Retirement from employment is a number. Figure your number, open your garden center, and "retire".
Huge video for a guy just starting out. Youll hear old timers tell you "Never put plastic in your raised beds" "Never add stone" but i dont think they look at it as intricately as yall have. Great idea using the sewer pipe as a way to water the deep roots if your system runs dry. A common complaint from them old timers is "Wheres the water going to go if you put all that rock in there to take up space" But they never thought to add a simple overflow pipe. Wow. I really love your set up and im going to try it for my outdoor bed im building this year for tomatoes and peppers!
Oh please. Those dumbass old timers.
Great idea, just as an added thought you could attach flexible hosing to connect all of the beds together as one unit. Place the garden hose into the first bed and the water will flow from one bed to the next filling all of the beds in one hit. This would work even if your garden were not level as the water will flow downhill naturally. You could even set up a moisture control unit to activate the water tap automatically.
00o
I.’m thinking to connect the (intercinnected) beds to my rainwater collection system so the reservroirs get refilled every time it rains.
i've done this using cut branches, instead of river rock. And only 8"s of wood. I didn't use a barrier and I constantly pumped a little water from a small pond. The water returning from the wicking bed was crystal clean. The veg grew fantastic!
It seems a little expensive with all that rock, I have a lot of access to dried wood.
@@nuclearchick27 only if you buy by the bag but mulch places are cheaper you just pay a delivery fee or use a truck or trailer and pick it up by the ton
Buy rock doesn't deteriorate or breakdown like wood does so you're missing the point of using rock
@@sweetsrt rock doesn't absorb water or other nutients, wood is natural. I don't see what point I have missed. I have grown in rock with aquaponics which worked well. There is a place and time for everything.
@rjaquaponics9266 what you missed was the rock is being used to hold the water and keep space for a long period of time. You use wood in place of rock the wood would deteriorate. That Is the Point You Missed.
If you're not worried about plastic in your food production spaces, the best reservoir is something that creates a fully open void like inverted plastic milk crates, with geotextile fabric draped over the top. Make sure the fabric dips down to the bottom of the bed between each void and the next so you have enough continuous soil for the water to wick up through and your plants will be able to use the water to the last drop. The big voids will mean you have a huge amount of water sitting there - and the geotextile will keep the soil out of your voids for decades after these river pebbles have been dug out and replaced.
This year I made many 'wicking tubs' using 15 gal planters and large storage bins but I used the 4" drain pipe in the bottom ( and even used 2 ltr soda bottles with holes drilled in them then covered with weed frabric and soil. Much less expensive and work than putting in stone! SO far working great! Tomatoes, peppers, squash other plants in them are doing great! I am in central Tx and we are having an excessive heat wave so I am so glad I did it this year! I do have drip also and ran a drip tube down into the watering pipe but my garden is doing so much better this year than it did last year when it was not as hot and I don't have to run the irrigation as often so I can conserve water.
Would love to see your self watering pots I’m in central Texas and my plants are having a hard time keeping healthy with this heat.
@@Maracz47 Here is the channel I learned how to make them. They used PVC pipe but I used 2 ltr pop bottles in the bottom. The things I planted did do better this year than last but still struggled in the excessive heat we had this year. I even ran a drip line in the top and down the tube so I never had to fill it with a hose. Like she said in the 2nd video it depends on where your tubs are- mine are in total sun. I think next year I am going to move them to less sunny area. ruclips.net/channel/UCMAh7eJhRcIAyxm1wyw43Twsearch?query=wicking%20tubs
@@Maracz47 Check out "Gardening with Leon"
Would also like more details of how you did that since I just moved to southern Utah and am struggling to get gardening successfully again.
@@janet-Spirit_of_the_Living_God Check out "Gardening with Leon" he has several videos on wicking containers
As a machine operator in a previous life, I have to say good Bobcat skills. Kudos.
The physical properties of the bed's design make it a solar-box
that aids the "wicking effect"
Because water is comprised of 2 gasses, the natural "leaching" into the upper layer is helped by the fabric "re-netting" the water molecules together, while still allowing the oxidation of minerals and continued composting action...
A wonderful experiment is to measure how many gallons it takes to fill the reservoir, that way you can calculate for rain-catch containers for home & shed gutters
I've seen people use the corrugated pipe as filler instead of rock. Put a coil in the bottom with the filler pipe up the side and still cover with landscape cloth, then cover with sand to above the level of the overflow. You might need to put a little gravel around the overflow pipe to keep the sand from leaking out, but that seems to be all the gravel that would be needed. The sand will act as a wick and probably does a better job than gravel. I couldn't recall if they used another layer of landscape cloth between the sand and the soil, but it seems like a good idea. I just went a found a video where instead of landscape cloth on top of the sand, they used a mulch. Either would probably work fine.
The rock is actually better than sand or pipe. It is robust and stands up to the weight of the garden without collapsing over time like many types of pipe do. Sand holds more water, but the rock does a better job of wicking the water up due to surface tension, adhesive and cohesive properties of water. I’ve tried many different fills for the reservoir and we now use a fine layer of sand in the bottom to protect the liner and then 20mm drainage gravel as the main fill, cover with shade cloth or other landscape fabric of your choosing and then growing medium to suit your needs. A thick layer of mulch on top will ensure that the water doesn’t evaporate from the top of the bed keeping the soil at optimum levels of moisture.
@@acrom17 Thanks for that information. I haven't set up any wicking beds myself, but plan to in the near future and this will be very useful knowledge indeed. Out of curiosity, how deep do you go with the gravel?
According to the Back to Eden Gardening videos mulch getting into the growing medium will draw out the nitrogen to break down the mulch. Best to use mulch on top though, it slows evaporation and protects the soil from extreme temps. And if you can use mulch fresh from a tree trimmer, (or something that still has leaves, etc.), he said it is even better.
Abs pipe won't collapse!
I agree with you, with using 4” corrugated pipe and then I would fill in around the pipe and bury it with about 2 inches of rock to bring the reservoir depth to about 6”, I think there would be more water this way than with 12” of rock, because that rock is going to displace a lot of water
Corrugated drain tile. Thanks for the ideas ladies I have a winter project now. If I decide to build this one thing different I would do is offset the overflow drain on the Southside of the bed so I do not have water runoff directly on the lumber creating a stain.
Absolutely brilliant, I can just imagine how good tomatoes would grow in this system. Definitely going to make one!!!! Thankyou so much for sharing!!!
I couldn't be happier that I saw this video. I have been wanting to built a planter box in my yard so I can grow foods and this was an eye opener on the right way to do it. It's more involved from the start, but it really seems like the only way you should be doing it! Thank you so much. I subscribed and saved your video!
Thank you from a 80yr old senior
with a patio garden in B.C., Canada. 🤗🥰
Jill, that was excellent! Excellent subject matter, excellent interviewing skills! You're such a natural! I greatly appreciate this information. I just gotta put this type bed to use! Genius! Thank you Jill and also thank you Green Thumb Nursery in Arkansas!
Thank you, Donna! I appreciate your kind words.
This had an incredible wealth of knowledge, im planning on building my mom a raised bed in our sideyard. I was just going to do what i see my neighborhoods do and make a box, throw some junk and topsoil in and call it a day. NOT ANYMORE! my mother deserves the very best and this is it!!! Also that fence idea for vine plants is genius, im also going to impliment a spot just for that. She loves her tomatos!
Says use river rock because it is smooth… Tractor proceeds to dump a whole bucket of jagged rock in.😂😂😂
Tell me you dont know how to garden without telling me you dont know how to garden
I cannot tell if its jagged or not. From what i can tell its river rock as gravel is harder to move and lays flatter
It was not jagged rock. It is like pea gravel which is rounded. Maybe you need glasses??
Well I think you could use a loop system of a fish pool back garden wherein the feed each other and the water 💧 self cleans and a great environment and amazing natural food God gave us for our bodies.
Thank you so very much for explaining everything so thoroughly, I have watched other videos and they must think that everyone just knows how, what when and why this works. I am just starting out and am trying to LEARN how to do things and you both have broke things down wonderfully for me!! I am going to subscribe just for the fact that you both are great teachers. This is my first video so I am praying the others are just as well informative. God bless you for wanting to help and teach us and THANK YOU again!!😊
Neat. There can also be done on a small scale with 5 gallon buckets and other plastic totes. They're sometimes called "earth boxes" too. thanks for the vids. cheers.
I would consider using a couple columns of peat moss or coco coir that go down into the rocks (cut holes in the fabric, clear out the rocks down to the bottom, lay down an overlapping layer of landscaping fabric over the hole and fill with peat or coco coir and then dirt on top. This can create a wicking column down to the bottom of the rocks.
Important step
Kind of my thought I was wondering where the wicking was in this design
Same concern here. Most of that rock and water is doing nothing at all in the design on the video.
@@mortyr045 I suspect that is why she has to water every week. She needs the soil to be in direct contact with the water.
What a beautiful garden! I think this is a fab idea! Worst bit about gardening in raised beds is that it drys out so this is perfect!
This is called a Sub-Irrigation Planter, or SIP. I have three of them in my garden. I use the perforated drainage pipe with a sock over it to keep it from getting clogged along with lava rock to make my reservoir. I also make sure that some of the irrigation tubing is higher than my drain tunes. This ensures that an air pocket always remains in the system, which also prevents root rot.
We have several poly cattle watering troughs. They have a drain hole that makes a great water depth limiter. I install a ring of 8” perforated PVC pipe coved with synthetic cloth against the outer wall and then I put a ring of 4” PVC perforated pipe inside it also covered with cloth. I have a direct fill line connected to the 8” pipe and drip irrigation on the surface. I adjust the sprinkler to over flow just a tiny bit. Don’t have to water at all, because here in California we get no rain from May through September.
Do you use a layer of weed fabric between the rock/pipes and the dirt?
Thankyou so much, as I'm disabled and have issues bending this is a brilliant idea and you ladies kindly showed it in simple easy to do terms, you are both great xo
This is genius, I'm disappointed I've already got a different system in place with my current garden beds, but I'm definitely saving this video for when I move and have to build more garden beds!
One small hole on the bottom of that plastic and you've got to move a ton of rock and soil to fix it. I'd rather use pond liner. Much more durable.
This is hands down the best thing I have seen for raised beds.
Thank you so much!!!!!
My husband has just made my garden bed frame. I'm so glad I watched this video, as I prefer self watering systems as it's easier...
This was so perfectly and clearly explained. It was terrific thank you ladies. Im a 62 year old woman with her first ever garden. And I want to do this-like so many injured people, I CANNOT be bending my knees down to garden. Not an option. This is the best are one I’ve seen. I will build only one bed and then if it rakes well i can make more. Thanks very much
I'd considered this when I made my raised beds. It just seems more cost effective to put in drip irrigation on a timer. I might still try this in a smaller bed.
I see your point. I'm thinking deep rooted plants such as tomatoes. maybe sweet potatoes or potatoes? Carrots?
These wicking beds are common amongst home gardeners in Australia with raised beds. Our summers (especially in the southern mainland states) are long and hot. 40°C/104°F are common at the hottest part of summer. Evaporation is a problem, even with mulch, so wicking beds such as these are a good solution as it minimises evaporation and rot from irrigation.
@@erin.murphy That answers my question about using these here in Southern Utah where we have 110 degrees in the summer. I was concerned about the water getting too hot in the reservoir, but it sounds like it works well for you down under, and the water doesn't wick up the soil so far as to evaporate off the top?
JSclar - It is amazing the difference just between solar exposure and shade. 30 degrees for the air. You could also dig out the soil a bit before placing the liner and use the benefits of geothermal moderation. You just need the overflow pipe to be above grade.
@@erin.murphy The whole purpose of drip irrigation is you give the plant the water it requires and not much more. The plant should be taking up that water before it even evaporates. If the climate is hot to the point that evaporation is quick then you simply bury a drip hose a few inches into the soil. Being honest with you, if your water is evaporating so quickly that mulch and buried drip line isn't supplying your plants with adequate water I'd probably be more worried about my physical being and my possessions than I would be my plants. Even at 40c evaporation isn't that drastic, even more so if the humidity is high. Which I've been lead to believe that Australian summers are hot and humid.
The nursery is very spacious and all the plants are very fertile. Thank you for sharing information and being an inspiration for my farm
Just what I've been looking for. I was searching for a watering system so I don't have to spend so much time watering. So time consuming. I'm about to build a couple of new raised beds so this will be ideal. Great job will be doing this. Instead of river rock I will use sand. I watched another video that compared sand and gravel. Sand evaporated faster in this mini trial. Great job ladies enjoyed your presentation. Very nicely explained and easy to follow. Enjoyed how each step was included. From here over the pond in Essex England
Thanks to 'Gardening with Leon' from Oklahoma for his brilliant teaching for the last 40 years! This is his brain child and we have all been blessed by it!
Thanks for the water collection idea.
8: 25, I would make the overflow pipe extend out a foot, and set a collection container under the end, to later add that water back into the raised bed. We never know when it's going to rain again.
And I'd add caulking around the overflow pipe on the inside of the wooden wall.
Thanks again for the plan.
We use silicone. And, yeah, leaving the pipe out a little further is a good thing. Just remember it's there - your shins will thank you! 😊
I am at 8,000 ft in the mountains of Colorado. We are in a protracted drought. Also I could have a frost almost any night of the year up here. Lots of sunshine, I have ponds and a well, so plenty of water. But with the beds built this way I could so easily cover them with a big sheet of plastic if we were going to have a freak cold night in July or an early frost. Also I think bird netting would keep the deer and chipmunks from decimating my garden as they have done in past years. My house plants are all done with the Gardening with Leon method, and it works beautifully. I think I might use the sewer pipe and landscape fabric in the reservoir instead of the gravel. I'm 73 and shoveling gravel doesn't sound like fun. Thank you so much! This is a great idea and I'm using it this year.
We are also in CO but down near the front range. It’s our third year attempting gardening here. Still so much to learn with extreme temp fluctuations and we get some crazy wind drying stuff out. Looks like I might empty our raised beds to try implement this! We were driving ourselves crazing trying to keep plants from dying in the summer heat.
You might want to think of using tulle fabric instead of bird netting. Nothing, including bugs/pests will get through it and birds won't die getting caught in it. It's really great and it can also be used as a light shade cloth, even though it's not a cloth.
Robbie and Gary - a RUclips channel, she talks about all the things she uses it for in the garden. I love it.
This is brilliant! Thank you so much. It's exactly what I have been looking for at exactly the right time. I am in the process right now of making raised beds and have been racking my brains trying to work out a watering system as I have no access to water in the garden. So I have the eternal problem of having to use a watering can, not nearly enough. So everything suffers. I consistently underwater, then drown everything by overwatering. It's very frustrating. I am so glad you have all taken the time to share this. Mx
Same 😊
CooL show and tell Jill! Thanks for showing the process of these beds 🌻
We have a cousin that does this her garden is awesome. I was so impressed when she showed me her results.
I've just finished my wicking bed and it works a treat.
This is spectacular. I live in Southern Nevada (very arid desert). Anytime I've grown food olin pots I ONLY do it in self watering pots.....only way your plans will survive out here. Actually need to fill the reservoir 2x in the summer, sometimes 3x depending on the plant. I've always wanted to translate my self watering pot to a raised garden bed. This is a super helpful way to do it, although I would tweak this to have more water....like space out the rocks with bottom capped upright tubes with wicking rope dipped into them. We simply would need more standing water out here.
I'd suggest finding a way to work a float valve into the system, in that climate. We use them to keep cattle water troughs full, but I'm sure you could use one to keep the water up to your garden too.
I’m just beginning to build a raised bed. This is exactly what I need. Thanks!
This was great! Living in the desert, there is always concern about the water evaporation when trying to grow my own food…
Excellent presentation, thank you. I notice that house on the property which could have guttering connected to rain barrels to avoid using chlorinated water as well as saving on expenses.
That looks like a bog filter for fish ponds except it is limited to a low water level. Gives me a great idea! Thanks!
You have taken gardening to another level Thank you for your tutorial Bless you
An idea I thought of; connect the pipes together to allow for all beds to be at an equal level. This also means you only need one sewer pipe and one drain. It may cause a possible trip hazard which can be solved by running the pipe down, underground and then back up.
Thanks,
I was thinking there must be a way to connect beds.
I use this concept in all of my humidity loving reptile enclosures, but we use leca in the bottom rather than river stone :)
Awesome to show it on a very large scale
This was one of the best and most informative videos as far as raised beds go.I will definitely will be implementing this in my garden journey.Im so excited ro have come across this video.
Another way is to run a *Larry Halls Gutter Garden* down the entire middle of a raised garden. You then drill holes at 1 ft increments on each side of the gutter and glue in sections of hollow braided cotton rope to go crosswise or really anywhere as that is the wicking medium which is buried in the garden. Larry Halls garden system keeps the gutter full of water at all times using a float valve supplied by either a rain barrel or pressurized water. What's really neat is you can place containers of soil with a net pot in the bottom into the gutter which is buried level to the ground there by irrigating both the containers and the entire garden through wicking action.
Thank you for posting this information. Now I am growing my very first vegie garden. Today, I will be harvesting my lettuce.
What wonderful ideas which will help many to grow food! Thanks, Jill!
A very interesting and informative concept I was watching very carefully but I did not see how he covered the pipe though, but the rest I got
Thank you very much for this video I will be trying it
Hey there! Glad I found you guys! This is basically what I have done without the pipe and plastic. I put lava rock for drainage in lots of beds and it sure does take this river valley heat with less work! Imagine my surprise when I heard you guys are in Russellville! I'll have to come see you all the next time I head up to Cental for more bees!
Thank you, so informative!
I’m in So. California where we get fined for watering often.
These seem perfect for us!
Wicking beds were invented by Colin Austin in Australia. It’s worth checking out all the different ways you can set them up. There’s a solution for everyone.. I’ve been using them for over a decade. All the hard work is in the setting up - there’s basically nothing else to do but plant and harvest at your leisure. They are highly productive and the return on investment begins almost immediately.
what is your experience with the plastic liner breaking down and replacing it? and what about earthworms, would i need to add them?
This concept has been around for thousands of years. Hawaiians filled the bottom of their garden beds with coconut half’s for example.
@@pamt8430 I was wondering about that too. Did you get an answer to your question?
Hi. Aussie Aussie Aussie oy oy oy 😂 I live in Townsville North Queensland Australia. Which way do you use the wicking beds please 😊
Glad to see fellow Arkansans ingenuity! Awesome stuff y’all.
Excellent video! This is amazing! I’ll try this in the spring. It would be great to see how the beds are built from the beginning too and the types of wood. Thank you!
really outside the box thinking, you see the same principle in smaller flower containers. really cool, thanks for sharing. i will watch this again and again until I get it done in my garden area, pretty cool
You can also fill the void with layers of perforated drainage pipe, and you will use less rock.
I am about to re-work my raised bed from last year, that I did not make deep enough. It worked, but was not as effective as it could have been. Last year, I also made several wicking tubs from storage tubs that worked great. However, I did not make my raised bed with a water reservoir. I plan to make another raised bed and was thinking of making it with a water reservoir so finding your video came along at just the right time. I have ordered my plastic and sewer tubing from Lowe’s and will pick it up today. Now I am ready to re-build my older bed and add another one. Thanks for your detailed video! It will be so helpful! Now if the weather would just warm up enough to get it constructed!😊
How thick is your plastic, size & cost of your sewer tubing? We have newly made garden boxes & when we figured the cost of the sewer tubing it was going to be very expensive for three garden boxes but I really want wicking garden beds.
I purchased my sewer tubing and plastic from Lowes. The 4”x10’ perforated sewer pipe: $15.98. The plastics was 10’x100’ 6mil construction film (Professinal 6+mil) was $84.98. This film was more than I needed for my two beds, but I figure I can use it for other things too. I only used one tube per 4’x4’ bed and filled in some of the space with other items like small plastic crates or baskets before adding the river rock.
These raised beds are really slick! Conceptually this is a scaled up version of commercial "Grow Boxes" which I have used and with excellent results. The reservoir watering system has addressed the biggest issue I had with the Grow Boxes which was keeping up with the watering during hot weather which required watering once / day.
My only thought for improvement with the system is if using multiple units is to tie the drainpipes together so filling one on the end of have the water cascade to the next one automatically which would also allow incorporating an automatic water system economically,
Excellent and very helpful video!! Thanks so much!!
Lining a garden...with plastic....😂😂. Ok. Enough said here. Moving on..
Keep moving democrat
So excited to try this in our drought-ridden area of TX!
We will definitely do this for our next raised bed this fall!!!! Thank you for sharing this awesome idea!
This is a great!This is a 6 star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️I love her teaching.
It would be interesting to know if you could put a house water filtering system on to the hose that you use to fill your raised bed during the summer to remove chlorine and other harmful chemicals from the city water supply. Also if you could attached a hose to the drainage pipe to collect runoff water into a rain barrel for later use.
Thanks for raised bed garden ideas which I plan to do next year. Also, your in Russellville which is just a bit down the Hwy 64 to Ozark where my dad was raised and we frequently visited many years ago, and I still have a few cousins living there and other towns like Mulberry being a great small town where my aunt lived, and other family in Alma. Thanks again, and keep the informative videos coming!
Works similar to Earthboxes. Love all the good information!! Great to do in West Texas!!
Awesome video, I will have to visit that nursery.
Lots of good suggestions in the comments!!
Also, would suggest installing a Boogie Brew Filter to the garden hose for filling the reservoir when rainwater is small.
Not only does a raised bed offer self-watering it also allows for excellent nitrogen retention throughout if the sides are made to be higher than the soil surface. The best gardens trap nitrogen by keeping it from blowing away in the wind or seeping downhill. I like supplying nitrogen with mulched grass clippings and sprinkling compost tea over it. If you are really daring you can use soiled diapers in a perforated bag if temperatures get really high (but I never have).
Tammy is the BEST!! Love my bed that they built for me!
After seeing this, when I do a raised bed, i think I might just put a 100 percent cotton sheet on top of the plastic to prevent puncture and then add a foot of of logs and yard debris with an overflow pipe and then add soil directly on top as in hugelculture beds leaving a fill pipe surrounded with rock to keep the dirt out. Somehow that seems as effective and less labor intensive and an opportunity to improve soil with decaying matter available for free?
She's still teaching. Love it 😊😊😊
I came up with the exact same idea last year. There is a problem with it . The water will stagnate if it sits , you need an irrigation system to recycle (aerate ) the flow of water . Im sure a solar powered pump to aerate the water would be of great benefit.. other wise your plants could die faster then you think, Due to lack of oxygenation in the water.
I think you are mixing surface water and ground water issues.
Also, capillary action is the irrigation system.
This is brilliant! Likely a bigger start up cost but over time you are saving so much time and money! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
All of these are wonderful ideas. But I would design a recapture system to avoid wasting the water that's coming from the bed. It should be saved and recirculated some way.
Hydroponics
Awesome video green thumbs up
Water does not wick up rocks, and if the water is below and not touching the soil, it will not wick up.
So you need something like a thick cotton rope to go from the bottom of the rocks up through the landscape fabric into the soil.
I have been searching for an answer on how its going to wick once the water level drops an inch or two. Still looking for a solution.
Awesome idea! I’m in the process of doing my whole garden this way and I will had some soft rope up through the cloth in several places!!! Glad I read your comment first. Thanks😅
@Rogooster yeah it needs a little "well" where the landscape cloth lets the dirt contact the water.
This is my first thought and however i think this through i do not understand the physics behind it. If for example the water level in the bed is only 5 inch high... how does it go up without touching the soil. Can someone explain pls. @@Rogooster
During hot days some of the water will tend to evaporate through the rocks up to the soil. Sand would be better than rocks since the smaller the space between the material the better the capillarity action . I would still use a few old trousers as a wick connecting the water on the bottom up to the bottom of the soil.
You have inspired me & my Dog Dog to start our container garden and start a video blog on RUclips. ❤❤❤😊 thanks. You are the BEST 😍😍🥰🥰👏👏🤩🤩
This is fantastic!!! Thank you for sharing it with us!
Wow what a great idea! And I’m your northern neighbor in Springfield MO. I need to come visit your nursery. Thank you so much for sharing!
I'm at a loss to understand how, when the water level in the rocks gets lower, there is enough capillary action to have the landscape fabric/soil junction get water. Most self watering systems have some sort of wicking that is always down in the water and up in the soil.
Also what happens in the winter, when this big "bathtub" freezes inside the plastic lined boards?
My guess is that the river rock was mixed with sand when they dumped it in. A normal wicking barrel would put drain pipe, rock, then sand. The sand would work to the fabric cloth, the cloth would wick to the soil, and the soil to the plants
I was thinking same thing. There wasn’t a “wick” in her system to keep in contact with water regardless of level. Maybe she’s relying on the water to evaporate up into the soil.
@@joserubio2039 That is exactly what she said in the video, evaporation.
What? No where in the video did I hear evaporation in the process of how it works.
In fact, at 12:47 is when they began to explain the process, and 13:11 she specifically states leeches up, 13:13 states soaks up.
Where in the video does she mention evaporation? If you can’t support your claim then you may have heard it in your mind, but not in this video.
My brain is old and I may have missed it, so please…… when?
I live in Iowa and every summer it gets to dry will def be adding this! Thank you for the details.
I’m curious how this stands up over the winter with a hard freeze. Wouldn’t the ice expand and cause damage to the bottom of the bed or heave the upper layer? I’m wondering if you’d need to pump/drain the water after harvest and before it starts freezing.
This was awesome! Thank you both for the education. I live in the area and have never been to this nursery. I will definitely be checking it out and would love to do some classes if offered!
They are doing gardening classes this year!
I love the way she explains this!
I get how the water is wicking once it hits the fabric between the rocks and the dirt. But how is it going up in the rocks if the reservoir is only half-full? I don't get it.
It's great, don't hurt your hand, thank you very much for your hard work, dear friend, for this educational video❤❤❤👌👌👌💯💯
Put your city water in a big plastic barrel and it will evaporate chlorine. Or collect rain water.
2 Fantastic ladies doing a great job of teaching. The retired teacher is still teaching and pretty good I would say.
God bless yall and your families 👪 🙏 ❤️ ✝️
This technique is very good for green leaf vegetables. May not be good for other vegetables like Tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, Okra, etc. Continued availability of water reduces flowers and increases leaves.
There are plenty of people that would disagree with you.
An abundance of leaves and lack of flowers/fruit is probably more linked to high nitrogen and low p-k. If you want more fruit, use a high p-k fertilizer once the plant is established.
From Australia ... thank you!! This video is full of wonderful information. 👏👌😊
Wicking beds only last about 2 years before you need to tip everything out and start again . They were designed as a emergency garden beds not long term . Certain minerals build up and you going to have to pull everything out and start again .
Half true. Growing anything will deplete some components of the soil, which will need to be replaced to grow more of the same thing. There are also ways of replacing the nutrients in the soil without pulling everything out and starting over.